Powerhouse Panthers winger Brian To’o says controversial comments made about teammates’ partners on social media were just a bit of “banter” and none of them had any issues with what he posted.
To’o made headlines earlier this month when he posted comments about some of the players who won awards at the club’s presentation night.
The premiership-winning star called Nathan Cleary “the Fowler slayer” in relation to his girlfriend Mary Fowler, while he made similar comments about Matt Eisenhuth, Tom Jenkins and Scott Sorensen.
Panthers officials reportedly addressed the matter with To’o after he became the subject of several articles, but no action was taken against the best winger in the competition.
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To’o hadn’t addressed the social media posts until Tuesday when he explained why he did it and he hoped others didn’t take it too seriously.
“It was always a bit of fun and banter,” he said.
“I actually don’t know what the problem was unless I’m talking about your wives or anything like that. It was a bit of banter, all the boys already knew. I always check up on them and see if they’re all right. They were pretty sweet with it.
“I was laughing about it (the reaction). That’s pretty much it.”
While his posts may have been in poor taste, To’o showed his value on the field with a stunning performance against the Bulldogs on Sunday as he and fellow winger Paul Alamoti ran riot on the edges.
The pair scored five tries between them, combined for 460m and had 28 tackle busts as the Panthers piled on the points to progress to the preliminary final.
To’o has been doing this for years, but he was proud of Alamoti, who spent a chunk of the season in reserve grade but was recalled for the finals and has repaid the faith.
“It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for him this year. ‘Brandy’ (Alamoti) has done a lot of hard work to get himself back in the team, so I’m really proud of him,” he said.
“I actually want to be like Paul. If we can have more Paul Alamotis in our team, then we’ll go a long way.
“Brandy has been a massive part of our team and he inspires me to be a better player. That’s a page I always want to take out of his book.”
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